Sunday, August 28, 2005

Run that by me again?

Said about Fred Phelps:

I wouldn't normally give this crap any kind of attention, but it really gets to me that there are actually people out there who think God capable of hatred. No matter what one's image of God/Goddess/Spirit may be, it seems to be inherently cognitively dissonant to claim that God hates anyone. How arrogant, to claim to know the mind of God.

I don't see how "God hates some people" is "inherently cognitively dissonant". Sure, if you're claiming to be a UU, (or, to be more precise, Universalist) believing that God hates people is believing something in direct conflict with your stated religion.

I fail to see the dissonance with conservative Christianity, though. There's plenty in the Bible to support the idea that God is petty and vengeful - if you play those parts up, a God who hates people is a reasonable conclusion.

It's also pretty arrogant to claim to know the mind of God to such an extent that one can be completely sure that God *doesn't* hate anyone.

The commenter Might have been that God is above all the human emotions such as hate. God is too big to have the kinds of feelings we smart animals have. In this way, you can know God doesn't 'hate' without knowing the mind of God.If the commenter were also willing to say 'it seems to be inherently cognitively dissonant to claim that God loves anyone' then they would have a case.